Ricky Tiedemann Starts Rehab Assignment After 706-Day Wait

ricky tiedemann made his first game appearance in almost two years Tuesday, beginning a rehab assignment at the Rookie-level Florida Complex League. He worked one inning, struck out two batters, and allowed two hits and one earned run.

The outing ended a 706-day wait since his last appearance with the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats on July 10, 2024. That start lasted one inning and took 27 pitches, then Tommy John surgery on his pitching elbow followed.

Tiedemann’s Long Layoff

The Blue Jays gave him the entire 2025 season to recover, but elbow soreness sent him back down in early March. He enters this step with a track record that once put him at the top of the system in 2023 and 2024, when MLB Pipeline ranked him as the organization’s top prospect.

He was one of the louder arms in the system before the injuries took over. In the 2022 season, he struck out 117 batters over 78.2 innings across three levels, and in the 2023 campaign he struck out 82 batters over 44.0 innings while reaching Triple-A Buffalo.

Blue Jays Prospect Picture

Tiedemann now sits No. 4 in the Blue Jays system, behind 19-year-old Johnny King as the second pitcher. At 23, his rehab work is less about numbers in the box score than showing his elbow can handle game speed again.

That one inning in the Florida Complex League gave the club the first live look at him since the shutdown in March, and it also showed he could miss bats while still giving up contact. For a pitcher who was once viewed as the system’s top name, the next innings will shape whether he can keep moving back toward Toronto’s rotation plans.